Economic Indicators

Eagle County Economic Indicators

Here you’ll find up-to-date information regarding the health of the Vail Valley economy. Detailed annual reports are available at the bottom of this page, along with links to a number of special reports.

Three-year Quarterly Performance through Q4, 2016

Eagle County Retail Sales and Sales Tax

Retail Sales and sales tax collections peak in the first quarter and are at their lowest point in the second quarter.

Both have been slowly growing over this reporting period, except that quarter 4 2016 sales tax is below the same time period in the prior year.

Quarterly retail sales data for 2016 is not yet available.

Eagle County Labor Force and Unemployment Rate

The size of the labor force is substantially higher during the first quarter than in any other quarter. The size of the labor force is substantially higher during the first quarter than in any other quarter.

The unemployment rate varies by quarter, but has been declining considerably over time.

The spikes in the first quarter of each year reflect a sizable seasonal population that is employed during the height of the tourist season, but do not remain within the county year-round.

The latest quarter saw a very low unemployment rate while the labor force was higher than it had been for the same quarter in the two prior years.

The unemployment rate varies by quarter, but has been declining considerably over time.

The spikes in the first quarter of each year reflect a sizable seasonal population that is employed during the height of the tourist season, but do not remain within the county year-round.

Eagle County Economic Stress

Economic Stress is at its minimum at values right around zero to slight positive.

High positive values indicate situations where the number employed is growing faster than the size of the labor force, producing labor pool shortages over time.

High negative values indicate situations where the size of the labor force is growing faster than the number becoming employed, increasing unemployment rate over time.

The latest quarter saw low stress and while it is typically low in 4th quarters, 2016 quarter 4 stress was lower than the two prior years.

Eagle County Real Estate Performance - Total Dollar Volume and Number of Transactions

Dollar volume saw sizable volatility by quarter in 2014. In 2015, both dollar volume and number of transaction saw solid growth of the course of the year.

Quarters that show that number of transactions is well above total dollar volume indicate situations where there are a disproportionately high number of transactions that had a relatively low sale price.

The latest quarter shows dollar volume was well above any other quarter during the past three years, but the spike in number of transactions was not of a similar magnitude, indicating that relatively expensive properties were sold during the quarter.